What service life already covers
The armed forces pension scheme includes benefits for families if a serving member dies, and the compensation scheme can pay for injuries and illness caused by service. While you are serving and unwell, you generally continue to receive military pay, and medical care comes through defence medical services.
These benefits are substantial in many cases. The catch is that they are designed around service. Once you leave, the death benefit no longer applies in the same way, and you join civilian life without an employer's cover until you find one.
War and deployment exclusions
Insurers take different views on military risk. Some offer life cover to service personnel on standard terms, including when deployed. Others exclude death caused by war, terrorism or active service in certain areas, or charge extra for particular roles such as special forces, bomb disposal or aircrew.
These differences matter, and the wording can be technical. A broker who knows which insurers are comfortable with military work can save you from buying a policy that would not pay in the situations you are most worried about. Read the exclusions section before you sign anything.
- Ask whether the policy covers death while deployed
- Check for war and terrorism exclusions
- Tell the insurer about specialist roles and training
- Mention any planned deployments when you apply
Leaving the forces and starting again
Transition to civilian life brings changes to income, housing and health care. Many service leavers buy a home for the first time, often with a mortgage that needs protecting. If you buy personal cover while serving, the premium is based on your age and health at that point, which is usually better than waiting.
Income protection is harder to arrange while serving, because military pay continues during sickness in a way civilian pay does not, and insurers may see little to replace. Many people arrange it once they are settled in a civilian job, but it is worth planning the timing before you leave.
Your resettlement period is a good time to look at protection, while you still have service benefits and before a civilian mortgage begins. Leaving it until after you have left can mean a gap with no cover at all.
Reservists and their civilian jobs
Reservists have two roles to think about. Your civilian employer may provide sick pay and death in service, and your reserve service brings its own benefits while mobilised or training. Insurers will want to know about both, and some ask about the likelihood of mobilisation.
Make sure your personal cover does not have exclusions that would leave a gap when you are called up. We can check that with the insurers before you apply, and tell your civilian employer's scheme about your reserve service if its terms ask you to.
How Hi Tomorrow helps service personnel
We find insurers on our panel that take a fair view of service life and explain how each treats deployment, war and specialist roles. Insurers group occupations into risk classes, and that affects price and terms. We explain the differences in plain language.
We can arrange life insurance now and income protection when you move into civilian work, so the two fit together without gaps or overlaps. Every policy depends on the insurer's underwriting and the details you give about your service, role and deployments.